Funny Is Money – Happy Birthday to Funny or Die

Five years ago, Funny or Die launched big with a trash-talking 2-year-old. Now the creators of Hollywood’s breakout viral content site have Mike Tyson as Herman Cain, Marion Cotillard with breasts on her head and, most important, an actual money-making venture

During a recent republican primary debate, Michele Bachmann spoke of having “dozens and dozens of children without once having sex,” while Ron Paul pushed his new book about how to keep kids out of abandoned amusement parks. When moderator Larry King asked Rick Perry about the gap between the rich and poor, he said: “Right now, my brain is thinking of this really funny, racist joke about this Injun and this colored fella — I’m sorry, two colored fellas.”

It may not be immediately apparent, but the debate is a parody. It hit the Internet on Jan. 6, and at 13 minutes it’s one of the longest videos in Funny or Die’s five-year history. Courtesy of distribution partner Yahoo and its 700 million users worldwide — and with 1.6 million views already logged, according to Yahoo — the video has a shot at becoming as popular as another politically themed video from FoD: Paris Hilton’s response to a John McCain ad, which has been viewed more than 10 million times in three years. That would thrill Citibank, which has one of several 15-second ads attached that viewers can’t skip. This isn’t just fun and games, after all. It’s business.